CAPITAL CITY HALF MARATHON 2014: RACE DAY REAPS WHAT THE TRAINING CYCLE SOWS

It should never be a mystery what race day performance likely will be when honest about pre-race training effort and volume.

Between October's 2013 Columbus Marathon and May's 2014 Capital City Half Marathon, I ran just short of 195 total miles. That's an average of less than 30 per month, not week, month.

Yes, I had a to nurse a post-marathon ankle injury. Yes, we had a "polar vortex" with frigid temperatures and near-record snows. But, no, I did not stay as motivated as I hoped this winter.

The good news is I listened to 45 great records along the way, some from familiar friends and several from new musical acquaintances.

The less lyrical news is that those numbers got me to the starting line and, more importantly, finish line, but not much else.

When it's a 13.1-mile run with 15,000 of your closest friends that's not so bad, especially on an ideal day on a spectacular course with plenty of support on the street and at the water stations. As always, a "big honkin' medal" was waiting for all the finishers at Columbus Commons.

Moreover, my iPod's random race-day musical selections from the training records provided an encore-worthy performance including:

- Following a starting line introduction from the Blue Jackets fighting fan favorite Jody Shelley, the first song of my run was Warren Zevon's Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song).

- When I turned onto High Street at Lane Avenue, Columbus' own Lydia Loveless (Win Lips) and Royal Crescent Mob (Mob Stew) played back to back.

- A few miles down High, the ride belonged to Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Down By The River and Like A Hurricane.

- Fittingly, the final song of the run was Cat Steven's On The Road To Find Out.

For the 2015 Capital City Half Marathon, I plan to run the road to find out how much faster my time can be when the training effort is turned up to 11. 

The Race Day Soundtrack

1. Hit Somebody! (The Hockey Song) from Warren Zevon My Ride's Here
2. Iron Man from Black Sabbath Paranoid
3. The Other Shoe from Old '97s & Waylon JenningsOld 97's/Waylon Jennings
4. Sweet Emotion from Aerosmith Toys In The Attic
5. Silence When You Speak To Me from Motorhead Aftershock
6. Smoke On Water from Deep Purple The Very Best of Deep Purple

7. Rock Box from Run-D.M.C. Greatest Hits
8. Long Limbed Girl from Nick Lowe At My Age

9. Wide Open Spaces from Dixie Chicks Wide Open Spaces
10. Sunday Morning from Elizabeth Cook Balls
11. Red Headed Stranger from Willie Nelson Red Headed Stranger
12. Wine Lips from Lydia Loveless Somewhere Else
13. Mob Stew from Royal Crescent Mob Good Lucky Killer
14. Rebels from Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers Southern Accents
15. Saturday Night's All Right For Fighting from Elton John Greatest Hits
16. Somebody Get Me A Doctor from Van HalenVan Halen II
17. Down By The River Neil Young & Crazy Horse Live At The Fillmore East
18.  Like A Hurricane from Neil Young & Crazy Horse Live In San Francisco Disc II
19. I Drove Her Out Of My Mind from Johnny Cash Out Among The Stars
20. The Ghost of Joad from Bruce Springsteen High Hopes
21. My My, Hey Hey (Out Of The Blue) from Neil Young & Crazy Horse Live In San Francisco Disc I
22. Cosmik Debris from Frank Zappa Apostrophe
23. Waiting On June from Holly Williams The Highway
24. Sweet Jane from Lou Reed Between Thought And Expression Disc I
25. Father And Son from Cat Stevens Cat Steven Greatest Hits
26. Motherly Love from Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention Freak Out
27. New Kind Of Kick from The Cramps Bad Music For Bad People
28. On The Road To Find Out from Cat Stevens Footsteps In The Dark

2014 Capital City Half Marathon Statistics

(Saturday, May 3, 2014)

Finish Time: 2:15:18

Final Pace: 10:20

5-Mile Time: 49:58

Overall Finish: 4789/8314

Men's Group: 2457/3401

50-54 Men's Age Group: 200/293